Photo by Matt de Simone
By Matt de Simone
Contributing writer
Last Thursday, the Lord Botetourt High School Chick-fil-A Leader Academy presented a check to Executive Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Charlotte Kidd. The students helped raise the money during a “Badges vs. Brigades” volleyball tournament last December.
The tournament was held at Lord Botetourt on December 13 that included five teams comprised of local Botetourt County police officers and firefighters. Over $1,600 was raised during the event. Lord Botetourt teacher Jane Reynolds helmed the event with help from students Shannon Bower and Brie Warman who acted as the Leader Academy’s lead organizers.
“We had to do a ‘Do-good December’ project,” Reynolds explained. “I gave examples to my students— the 30 members— and we divided into three teams and brainstormed ideas. One group wanted to do something with the JDRF. Another group came up with the volleyball tournament for the local firemen and police officers.”
Despite the event happening on a snow day, Reynolds mentioned that all the students, players, and families attended the event in Lord Botetourt’s main gymnasium. The Leader Academy’s originally goal was raising $500. The tournament managed to donate a total of $1,623.20 through T-shirt sales, donations, sponsorships, and a bake sale.
The idea to support the Roanoke Chapter of the JDRF hit close to home for Lord Botetourt student Brie Warman, who co-organized the event. “Both my mom and my sister are diabetic,” revealed Warman. “We’ve done a lot in the past for the JDRF. My mom has gotten them connected with two different service dogs. We do the JDRF One Walk every year. It’s a big part of our family. I felt like since I never heard our school ever putting on an event in support of a diabetic-related organization, I thought it would be cool if we did something.”
The event was a learning experience for the Leader Academy. The students had an opportunity to get to know a lot of members in the Botetourt County community. “We got to meet a lot of people,” Warman explained, “We talked to the chiefs of the different departments and the head of the JDRF. It was really good way to use communication skills with the people in our area. We met a lot of people who we had never seen from the fire department and police department.”
Shannon Bower helped co-organize the event with Warman and Reynolds. “I think it was cool because the whole point of the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy is for it to be student-led,” she mentioned. “We have Ms. Reynolds but it was cool to see what we could pull together as a group.”
JDRF Executive Director Charlotte Kidd thanked the students personally for their donation and hard work. “Any of you that have a diabetic in your family know that it’s not an easy disease to live with,” Kidd said to the Leader Academy. “It’s something you live with 24/7. You don’t put a bite in your mouth with having to count your carbs. While we’ve come a long way, there still a long way to go. This event is exactly something that helps the JDRF and helps to find a cure. Thank you to all of you. This is tremendous.”
Bob Duffessy, the owner/operator of the Bonsack Chick-fil-A, was also in attendance for the check presentation to the JDRF. “Chick-fil-A is all about representing the leaders of the future,” Duffessy explained. “That’s one of the reasons why we do this. These kids are going to be affecting the next generation. We want to invest in the students so they can invest the next generation— even the next year’s class. We want to help develop leaders of the future. Everybody’s leading someone, it just depends on where you’re taking them. That’s the big thing: teaching the students that they have influence. That’s what leadership is: influence.”
The LBHS Chick-fil-A Leader Academy hopes to expand the tournament next year by bringing in police officers, EMTs, and firefighters from Roanoke County and Roanoke City. In April, Lord Botetourt’s Leader Academy is planning to put on a community carnival this spring for local families to enjoy.
